Collector container for reusable waste materials

ABSTRACT

A collector container, for recyclable materials, is formed around a central body. At least three partial containers each has a closed outer side and a closed top and a closed bottom, as well as an inner side provided with an exit opening therein. Each of the partial containers also is provided with an entrance opening in an upper portion thereof for receiving a recyclable material therein. The outer sides of the partial containers in their closed positions combining to describe a cube. The partial containers extending to mid-planes of the cube with the central body arranged along a line of intersection of the mid-planes. Each of the partial containers is hingedly joined to the central body between a closed position wherein the inner side engages the wall means to close that partial container&#39;s exit opening, and an open position wherein the material container&#39;s inner wall is tilted away from the central body to expose the exit opening of that partial container downwardly for dumping said recyclable material therefrom. A hoisting mechanism is provided for lifting selectively each of the partial containers between their respective closed and open positions.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a collector container for reuseablewaste materials.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED PRIOR ART

Such a collector container is described in DE-34 13 937 A1, in which itis referred to as a hinged-lid container because the two containers thatit comprises can be opened and closed relative to each other in asynchronous, mirror-image movement. To this end, in the known collectorcontainer, tops of the two containers are articulated directly with eachother, and in a closed position open sides of the constituent containerslie directly against each other. Because of this arrangement, when inthe closed position, these two constituent containers form a single andcontinuous storage space, which is a disadvantage with respect toaccommodating those types of waste that are to be separated from eachother. In particular, a collector container of this type is not suitablefor holding variously coloured glass fractions; for example, using sucha container, it is not possible to pre-sort clear and coloured glass.

The German utility model DE-G 88 05 173.0 describes a similar collectorcontainer that incorporates a separator flap that is arranged inside thecontainer between the open sides of the two constituent containers thatare adjacent to each other. When the flaps of the two constituentcontainers are raised synchronously with their open sides away from eachother, the separator flap first holds the open side of the oneconstituent container closed, to a pre-determined opening angle, so thatinitially the other constituent container can be emptied. If the twoconstituent containers are tilted further apart, the separator plateunblocks the open side of the second constituent container, which makesit possible to empty the two constituent containers separately. Thedisadvantage of this known arrangement lies in the fact that it is onlysuitable for two constituent containers that can be tilted directlytowards each other; a complicated mechanism is required to control theseparator flap; and the sequence by which the two constituent containersare emptied cannot be selected as desired.

German utility model DE-G 91 02 154.5 describes a collector system fordiscrete collection of individual materials; in this collector system, aplurality of individual containers are arranged on a central receiverbody. Each individual container can be manipulated separately and it hasto be removed from the receiver body in order to be emptied by way of atop flap.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention presents a collector container of the typedescribed, which can comprise two or more constituent containers thatcan be emptied individually, independently of each other, and in anysequence.

It is essential to the present invention that the individual constituentcontainers of the collector container be articulatable independently ofeach other on a central receiver body, and for this reason can be openedtowards the bottom by tilting their open sides away from the receiverbody. When this is done, the wall sections of the receiver body keep theremaining constituent containers closed without any risk ofunintentional and self-actuated opening, because when the particularconstituent containers are opened and closed the relative movement takesplace only between this constituent container and the receiver body, butnot between the different constituent containers.

In an advantageous configuration according to the present invention, aconstituent container has an overall, essentially cubic shape andcomprises three or four constituent containers; lines of separationbetween these constituent containers, run in longitudinal and transversemid-planes of an essentially cubic basic body when the collectorcontainer is in the closed position. Thus, the central receiver body isarranged at the intersection of lines of separation in order to achievea favourable position for the centre of gravity. The axes of the hingesbetween the tops of the constituent containers and the receiver body canbe arranged so as to be parallel and/or diagonal to the lines ofseparation. In the latter case, the danger of the constituent containersjamming against each other is reduced and emptying openings on the topcould be enlarged in that the open side and thus the emptying opening ofthe particular constituent container extends beyond the inner corneredge.

In order that the receiver body can fulfill its separating functionwithout significantly reducing the receiving volume of the constituentcontainers, it is advantageous that it have a central column from whichwall arms extend radially and which, at least in part, form the wallsections that close off the open sides of the constituent containers.The column of the receiver body can extend to the whole height of theconstituent containers, in the tops and bottoms of which there are thennegative contours that are formed so as to enclose the column tightly.

In order to keep the dimensions of the receiver body small, on one hand,and, on the other hand, to achieve a tight closure of the open sides orthe emptying openings in the closed position of the constituentcontainers, it is advantageous that wall elements that define theemptying openings at the side be arranged on the open side of theconstituent containers; in the closed position, these are overlapped bythe wall sections or the wall arms of the receiver body.

In order to arrive at a stable closed position, the hinges on the topsof constituent containers are as close as possible to the centralreceiver body. To this end, it is advantageous if the receiver body hasat the upper end of its column a head plate that projects radiallybeyond it, the hinges for the constituent containers being arrangedalong the edges of the head plate. Then, even in the case of a rigidconnection, it is possible to stabilize the radially projecting wallarms of the receiver body by way of the head plate.

In the emptying process, the whole of the collector container is raisedover the central receiver body by the elevator. To this end, it isexpedient that at the upper end of the receiver body there be a couplingsystem for a load suspension device of the elevator; this couplingsystem can, in particular, be arranged on the top of the head plate ofthe receiver body.

In an advantageous development of the present invention, in addition,the coupling system of the receiver body and the load suspension deviceof the elevator can be locked by means of positively shaped contourswhen the coupling counter-elements of the elevator are aligned with thecoupling elements at the top; and can be released from each other whennot so aligned. First, then, one must first securely join the collectorcontainer to the elevator by way of the coupling system on the top ofthe receiver body so that then, after lifting, one can tilt eachconstituent container open by operating the particular couplingcounter-element of the elevator. To this end, it is advantageous thatthe coupling system of the receiver body incorporate an elongatedinsertion slot with an undercut area and the load suspension device ofthe elevator have a hammer head that is matched thereto and which can bepositively locked, with the elevator being traversable about a verticalaxis that passes through the hammer head. Thus, as long as the hammerhead is not secured positively by virtue of its shape to the couplingsystem of the receiver body, it is not possible to open the constituentcontainers. An effective safety device lies in the fact that thecoupling system of the receiver body has on its underside, in the areaof the undercut, a transverse groove that is open at the bottom andwhich is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the insertionslot in which the hammer head of the elevator engages positively duringthe raising process. To this end, it is advantageous that the undercutextend on both sides on the underside of the coupling system, proceedingfrom the longitudinal direction of the insertion slot through an angleof rotation of 90° for the hammer head of the elevator, and are definedby a flank side of the transverse groove that is extended downwards, asa stop for the hammer head.

An advantageous configuration of the coupling counter-elements of theelevator are hooks that can be pivoted in a vertical plane between anouter spread position and a position that is retracted inwards to theload suspension device; said hooks are arranged so as to projectessentially downwards on the elevator, around the load suspension deviceat the same angular spacing as the coupling elements on the tops of theconstituent containers and have hook projections that are orientedinwards towards the load suspension device. The coupling elements on thetop of the constituent containers are lifting eyes that are matched tothe hook-shaped coupling counter-elements of the elevator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described in greater detail below on thebasis of an embodiment shown in the drawings. These drawings show thefollowing:

FIG. 1: an oblique perspective view from above of a collector container,with a constituent container tilted outward;

FIG. 2: a perspective view of the half constituent container of acollector container as in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3: a perspective view of the quarter constituent container of acollector container shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4: a perspective view of the central receiver body of the collectorcontainer, showing outlines of the container;

FIG. 5: a perspective view of the hoisting mechanism for the collectorcontainer aligned with a corresponding coupling device on top of thecentral receiver body;

FIG. 6: a view, corresponding to FIG. 5, of the hoisting mechanism withcoupler counter-elements engaged with coupling elements on the tops ofthe constituent containers.

BEST WAY TO EXECUTE THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a details of a collector container that comprises threeconstituent containers 1, 2, 3 that complement each other. The collectorcontainer is of an overall, essentially cubic shape, the larger of thethree constituent containers, namely the constituent container 1accounting for half the total volume of the collector container, and thetwo smaller constituent containers, namely the constituent containers 2and 3, each accounting for a quarter of the total volume. Lines ofseparation 22 (see FIG. 4) between the constituent containers, 1, 2, and3 are so arranged that they extend along vertical middle planes of thetotal collector container, which intersect each other at right angles,so that the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 have rectangularcross-sectional shapes. The constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 haveessentially continuous outer sides and the interiors of theseconstituent containers are accessable from outside only throughinsertion openings 7 that are positioned near their tops. Thus, theconstituent containers 1, 2, and 3 have closed outer sides 4, a closedbottom 5 and a closed top 6. Material that is to be collected, inparticular glass, can be inserted, separated according to colour, intothe constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 through the insertion openings 7;the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 are emptied from the inside, forwhich objective the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 can be tiltedoutward relative to each other, thereby forming an emptying gap that isopen at the bottom.

FIG. 2 shows the inside open side 8 of the constituent container 1; thisopen side 8 has a central emptying opening 9 that is defined at itssides by the wall sections 10. The open side 8 of the half constituentcontainer 1 extends across a long side, and the emptying opening 9 canbe configured to any desired size by enlarging or reducing the wallsections 10. By inclining the bottom 5 towards the emptying opening 9,it is possible to achieve complete removal of the collected materialfrom the constituent container 1. In the same way, FIG. 3 shows theinner open side 11 of one of the smaller constituent containers 2 or 3and this open side 8 extends across an inside corner edge. Accordingly,here there is an emptying opening 12 that runs along the corner edge andis defined by wall sections 13 that extend at right angles to eachother.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, on the top 6 of the constituent containers 1, 2, and3, there are joints 14 that are built in a manner of hinges, which areeach offset from the vertical midline axis of the particular constituentcontainer 1, 2, or 3 towards the side of the emptying opening 9 or 12,respectively. As is also shown in FIG. 1, the constituent containers 1,2, and 3 are suspended on a central receiver body 15 by way of thesejoints 14, when the axis of the joint 14 in the half constituentcontainer 1 is parallel to the longitudinal midline plane, and in thecase of the smaller constituents 2 and 3, is parallel to the diagonalmidline plane. Each of the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 can thusbe tilted out relative to the central receiver body 15 so as to form anemptying gap that is open at the bottom, as is shown in FIG. 1, on theright-hand side, for the rear small constituent container 3. Theconstituent containers are opened by a hoisting mechanism, which will bedescribed in greater detail below.

At its top, the central receiver body 15 has a head plate 16 thatextends radially, relative to its longitudinal axis. The constituentcontainers 1, 2, and 3 are articulated onto this head plate 16 at theirtops through hinge joints 14 when an eccentric arrangement relative tothe vertical centre of each individual constituent container 1, 2, and 3to ensure that when the constituent containers suspended the open sides8, 11, respectively of the constituent containers 1, 2, or 3 are closedautomatically by the effects of gravity so as to lie against the centralreceiver body 15. A tensile force that acts against the closing forcemust be applied in order to swing the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3outwards and this tensile force has to act on the coupling element 17 onthe tops 6 of the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3; these are arrangedon that side of the particular joint 14 that is remote from the centralreceiver body 15 or from its top head plate 16. A coupling device 18that is arranged on the top of the head plate 16 of the receiver body 15is used to mount the elevator on the receiver body 15.

The particular configuration of the receiver body 15 is shown in FIG. 4.It incorporates a central column 19 on which radially projecting wallarms 20 are arranged between the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3according to the shape of the lines of separation 22 between theconstituent containers 1, 2, and 3. These wall arms 20, together withthe outer sides of the central column 19 of the receiver body 15 formwall sections 21 and these cover completely the emptying openings 9, 12in the open sides 8, 11 when the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 arein the closed position. When this is done, the wall arms 20 overlap thewall sections 10, 13 of the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 thatdefine the emptying openings 9, 12 at the sides. The rectangular column19 of the receiver body 15 is enclosed closely by the tops 6 and thebottoms 9 of the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3 when in the closedposition, and to this end there are appropriately V-shaped negativeshapes 23 formed in the top 6 and the bottom 5 of the half constituentcontainer 1 and there are bevelled faces as negative shapes 24 on theinner corners of the bottoms 5 and the tops 6 of the smaller constituentcontainers 2, 3.

The hoisting mechanism 25 that is couplable to the coupling device 18 ofthe receiver body 15 can be seen in detail in FIGS. 5 and 6. At itslower end, the hoisting mechanism 25 has a load suspension device 26that extends coaxially downwards and this is configured as a hammer head27 at its lower end. The coupling device 18 is provided with anelongated insertion slot 28 that opens out at the bottom into a straightor undercut area 29, in the vicinity of which the hammer head 27 of theload suspension device 26 can be rotated into a position that isperpendicular to the insertion slot 28. The insertion slot 28 is, atleast in its longitudinal direction, matched exactly to the hammer head27 of the load suspension device 26 with respect to its shape, in orderthat the elevator 25 assumes a specific rotated position when the hammerhead 27 passes through the insertion slot 28. On its lower side, thecoupling device 18 has a transverse groove 30 that intersects theinsertion slot 28 at its mid-point, and this opens out to the undercutarea 29. This transverse groove 30 accommodates the hammer head 27 when,after passing through the insertion slot 28, it is rotated with thewhole of the elevator 25 through 90° and the hoisting mechanism device25 is subsequently raised. This arrangement locks the hoisting mechanism25 to the coupling device 18 of the receiver body 15, as can be seen inFIG. 6. In order that the hammer head 27 can be introduced securely intothe transverse groove 30 on the underside of the coupling device 18during the raising process, the side 31 of the transverse groove 30 thatis opposite the undercut section 29 is extended downwards in order toform a stop for the hammer head 27. Because the hammer head 27 hasprojecting sections on both sides relative to the vertical axis ofrotation of the elevator 25, the coupling device 28 is formed on itsunderside, on both sides, with rotationally symmetrical and opposingfree-cut sections.

Coupling counter-elements 32 are arranged so as to be pivotable on thehoisting mechanism 25, around the central receiver 26, and their angularspacing corresponds to the angular spacing between the coupling element17 on the tops 6 of the constituent containers 1, 2, and 3. In the caseof the coupling counter-elements 32, these are hooks that are arrangedon the elevator 25 so as to extend essentially downwards; they canassume a spread position in which they are inclined outwards, as isshown in FIG. 5, and a position in which they are pivoted inwards, as isshown in FIG. 6. On their inner sides, towards the load suspensiondevice 26, the coupling counter-elements 32 are provided with hookedprojections 33 which, when in the innermost position, engage with thecoupling elements 17 that are on the tops of the particular constituentcontainers 1, 2, 3 and which are configured in the manner of suspensioneyes. Each of the coupling counter-elements 32 of the elevator 25 can bemoved from the outer spread position into the inner position by a drivesystem (not shown herein) and then the bottoms 5 of the particularconstituent container 1, 2, or 3 can be tilted away from the centralreceiver element 15 when the coupling element 17 is moved by thecoupling counter-elements 32. FIG. 6 shows the two visible couplingcounter-elements 32 of the hoisting mechanism 25 engaged with thecoupling elements 17 of the two constituent containers 2 and 3, but itmust be understood that as a rule, which is to say during the emptyingprocess, each of the constituent containers 1, 2, or 3 can be opened inand of itself by appropriate control of the coupling counter-elements 32on the hoisting mechanism 25.

I claim:
 1. In combination a collector container and related hoistingmechanism for recyclable materials and comprising:a central body havingwall means, at least three partial containers each having a closed outerside and a closed top and a closed bottom as well as an inner sideprovided with an exit opening therein, each of the partial containersfurther provided with an entrance opening in an upper portion thereoffor receiving one of the recyclable materials therein, each of thepartial containers having in the vicinity of its top a joint thatconnects said partial container hingedly to the central body, each ofthe partial containers movable about its related joint between: a closedposition wherein the inner side engages the wall means of the centralbody to close that partial container's exit opening, and an openposition wherein the partial container's inner wall is tilted away fromthe wall means of the central body to expose the exit opening of thatpartial container downwardly for discharge of its recyclable materialtherefrom, a coupling loop connected to each of the partial containersand spaced from the central body outward of the joint, a hoistingmechanism connectable selectively to each of the coupling loops formoving selectively each of the partial containers between their saidrespective closed and open positions, the outer sides of the partialcontainers in their said closed positions combining to describe a cube,the partial containers in their said positions defining therebetweenplanes of separation which extend along longitudinal and transversevertical mid-planes of the cube with the central body being arrangedalong a line of intersection of the mid-planes.
 2. The combination asclaimed in claim 1, characterized further in that each of the jointsbetween the partial containers and the central body defines a jointaxis.
 3. The combination as claimed in claim 2, characterized further inthat the top of at least a first one of the partial containers describesa joint axis extending diagonally along a corner edge of the top of saidfirst one of the partial containers.
 4. The combination as claimed inclaim 3, further characterized in that:the central body comprises acentral column, the wall means comprises a wall section corresponding toeach of the partial containers, the wall means connected to the centralcolumn, and each of the wall sections overlapping the exit opening ofits partial container in the closed position.
 5. The combination asclaimed in claim 4, further characterized in that cut-outs are providedfrom the tops and bottoms of each of the partial containers.
 6. Thecombination as claimed in claim 5, further characterized in that thecentral column has a headplate connected rigidly thereto, each of saidjoints arranged between its related partial container and edges of theheadplate.
 7. The combination as claimed in claim 6, furthercharacterized in that the coupling loop for at least one of the partialcontainers and the hoisting mechanism are detachably attachable to eachother.